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Harvey Schmidts letter is correct and timely (Originalism and the Second Amendment, Opinion, April 12). Patriots Day in Massachusetts celebrates the birth of the Second Amendment on April 19, 1775, when well-regulated militias (known to history as the Minutemen) gathered in Lexington and Concord to stop the English soldiers from taking their guns and ammunition. The English Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith had received orders to march with utmost expedition and secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy ... all military stores. In 1789, only 14 years after the battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress approved the Bill of Rights which included what we now know as the Second Amendment. When the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1791, surely many living veterans of the war were remembering that April day in Massachusetts when they ensured that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Schmidt is correct to point out that the founders original intent in formulating the Second Amendment was far different from the distorted version of the amendment currently promoted by gun advocates and their commercial sponsors. The founders also recognized the need for citizens to be well regulated when exercising their right to bear arms. Lets remember that on this Patriots Day.

David Coulter

Excerpt from:
Observing Patriots Day and well-regulated militias - The Boston Globe